The U.S. official reportedly described Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi as having made "thuggish" threats to cut off trade ties and harass embassy staff, according to a report in "The Guardian" newspaper, which is cooperating with WikiLeaks in the so-called Cablegate classified-document dump.

Al-Megrahi was the only person convicted of the 1988 attack of a U.S. plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people aboard.